The Zen of Dishwashing

Our dishwasher recently got grimey, so I went back to handwashing dishes.

It’s not something I’ve done in years. Before I moved to Denmark, my family never used the dishwasher. In fact, ours wasn’t even a dishwasher — it was a storage unit for things that had no home. Plastic forks. Cups. Random kitchen tools.

My mother used to say, “It’s a waste of water.”

So we washed everything by hand — bowls, chopsticks, pots — and I grew up believing dishwashers were just foreign devices that used too much and gave too little.

But this week, as I stood over the sink, I rediscovered something I didn’t expect.

🌿 The Ritual

There’s a rhythm to dishwashing.The water runs, the sponge moves, plates clink softly like wind chimes.

It’s one of those few chores where you can see the results of your effort — instantly.Soap bubbles fade, and suddenly, things are clear again.

I found myself strategizing, too.

Not one dish at a time, but all together — grouped, sequenced, optimized.The designer in me couldn’t help it.

Efficiency is still part of the ritual.

And it’s fast. Ten minutes, not three or four hours like the machine.When I finished, I felt a sense of completion I hadn’t realized I missed.

My brain quieted. My hands were busy.And for a moment, it was just me, the dishes, and the sound of water.

💭 The Pragmatic Return

Then, of course, I went right back to fixing the dishwasher.

Two little kids means time is a luxury and truthfully, dishwashing doesn’t scale well.

There’s just too much.

Also, I realized something else:

Chinese cooking may produce more dishes on the table,

but Western cooking produces more to wash.Forks, spoons, knives, spatulas, wooden spoons. so much metal, so many handles.

Chopsticks, in comparison, are a minimalist dream.

So back they go — into the machine.

✨ The Reflection

I still like to handwash every now and then.Not out of necessity, but as a ritual — a return to simplicity.

It’s small, quiet, meditative work.

It reminds me that design isn’t just in the grand things we build,

but in how we approach the smallest, most repetitive acts.

Dishwashing is, in its own way, a kind of care —a small daily restoration of order.

Proof that effort can be both practical and peaceful.

So maybe I’ll let the dishwasher rest now and then.

And maybe, I’ll keep washing by hand —if only to remember that simplicity is also a luxury.